US british food Cultural differences
Give peas a chance! An American dared to criticise our mushy peas, and provoked outrage – plus some support too, to be fair
It’s not the first time that our delicious British delicacies have come in for criticism from those unenlightened folk from across The Pond, but it’s always entertaining when it happens.
It’s also a bit rich when an American criticises UK food when you think of the horrors that they create in the name of sustenance. Chlorinated, canned chicken, spray-on cheese and Hershey’s ‘chocolate’ (which famously contains butyric acid, which is also found in vomit). Yum.
This time, they’ve having a go at our mushy peas.
It all started when Twitter account No Context Brits asked their followers to choose their favourite accompaniment to chips, from the following list.
You can only choose one. pic.twitter.com/3x3CsSUYr7
— No Context Brits (@NoContextBrits) January 23, 2026
It gained a lot of traction and a lot of debate, especially when the Americans joined in.
Here’s US user Sandy Petersen, weighing in with a personal anecdote about his dad’s mushy pea experience.
When I took my Dad to England for a fun trip (not just him – also took two aunts, an uncle, mom, and my daughter), he was excited that they had "peas" as an addition at the fish & chips shop, so he ordered it. He loves peas. He apparently thought the peas would come on the side.… https://t.co/Lw26t2Zg4o
— Sandy Petersen 🪔 (@SandyofCthulhu) January 23, 2026
And the text in full…
Hackles were raised. But there was support for his beliefs too, even from some (traitorous) Brits.
1.
John here. Hope you're well – mushy peas are fucking mint
— Pete Hepple (@petehepple) January 23, 2026
2.
Mushy peas are superior. Easier to eat as they don’t roll off the fork like regular peas.
Had some yesterday with my pie. Fantastic stuff.
— Anglothegn (@MercianMenace) January 23, 2026
3.
Saying this shit up north is considered a hate crime you know.
— almostcooked (@MattHMajn) January 23, 2026
4.
Clearly rubbish.
Seagulls will eat anything. Including vomit
— Jeff Simpkins (@HereLiesJeff) January 24, 2026
5.
mushy peas is British guacamole
— Alex Petropoulos 🤠 (@AlexTPet) January 23, 2026
6.
Mushy peas are supposed to come in a small container on the side. And if you like peas it's impossible to not like mushy peas unless you're overly sensitive to textures.
— SAM (@AngloNumidian) January 23, 2026
7.
British food is ridiculous because on one end of the spectrum you have beef wellington, and then on the other it's assorted goop piled ontop of cold potatoes.
— 🔺️🔻Charlie's Finest🔻🔺️ (@CharlieAdorer) January 23, 2026
8.
— Ade (@Ade73Uk) January 23, 2026
9.
"Nope. A gigantic hideous glob of half-mashed peas on top of his chips. It looked exactly like spew. ."
Did he actually try and eat them rather than just looking at them?
If not his opinion is irrelevant.
— jezzle (@jezzle9) January 24, 2026
10.
I’ll defend a lot of our food that gets insults from foreigners, but I won’t defend mushy peas. Absolutely dreadful stuff. If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, look up “pea wet” which is the green liquid by product of when the peas are mushed.
— Goater’s Motors (@goatersmotors) January 24, 2026